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The Baths of Leirouthtopia

Xanadu Weyr - Shore of Lake CaspianThe cliffs that run along the shore come and go, various weyrs nestled along the tops of them or dug into the walls, but eventually they recede enough to expose a beach. The white sand echoes the rise and fall of the cliffs with a multitude of sandy dunes, endlessly creating tiny valleys that are constantly demolished and rebuilt by the frequent arrival or departure of dragons. The dunes smooth out as the gentle slope approaches the edge of the deep blue water. The sand darkens, and a shell here and there stands out for children to collect.
The beach narrows to the southwest, leaving a path barely wide enough for dragons in single file before cutting in to a smaller, more sheltered cove. The sands are the same white, the waters the same blue, but they're calmer and more tranquil, more protected from the winds that ruffle Lake Caspian and the currents that tug beneath the surface.
Rough, wide stairs lead up to the meadow above and the road that runs along the top of the cliffs, passing through the fields and heading for the river mouth that can be just barely seen from here. The largest of the staircases up the cliff is located near the docks that jut out onto the peaceful blue waters.

Rinian gets to work early, before lessons. The little Woodcrafter borrows a wagon and beasts, and brings down two good sized log sections to the beach, as well as a large cauldron and stand. Small she may be, but she's able to muscle them off the wagon well enough. Levers are a girl's best friend! She's gone for a bit to return the borrowed wagon and beasts, and when she returns its with some tools. Not her lovely small woodcarving tools, but larger ones more suited to the task at hand. Figuring out a good spot above the usual high tide, Rinian starts to dig out two trenches. Aide by side, with a few meters between them, she piles up the sand a bit further up the beach on the center line between them. Thankfully that part doesn't take too long. The logs get rolled into the trenches and some water and stomping flattens out and firms up the mound of sand to give a sturdy base for the cauldron and stand.

Mathis is late. He never imagined in a thousand turns that Rinian would take it upon herself to get started without him. He'd been drug out of bed just before dawn and put to the taste of scrubbing this and that in the administration offices. It was his first time ever being up there and some distraction is expected, but it wasn't long enough to be particularly notable. Most of his time spent up there is scrubbing down every thing. Chairs, desks, floors, walls; all with a solution that he needs to wear productive equipment to use. He's probably in need of a bath by the time he manages to sneak away on a 'break' and make his way down to the beach to see Rinian already at it, surprised by the progress she's made thus far. "I thought I was supposed to do all the heavy lifting," he sighs, standing nearby now with his fits propped on his hips.

Rinian finishes some last fussing with sand and logs to her satisfaction, and looks up, startled a the voice. She'd been so busy she hadn't even noticed him coming! She smiles as she straightens. "It's ok. I borrowed a team anyway. Besides, you're just in time!" She hands him one of the smaller hatchets used to hollow out logs. "The tough work is still to come. Just throw the chips under the cauldron there, we can use them to get the fire started. And…we still need to bring some fuel to keep it going." She takes another hatchet and stands up on one of the large logs, feet spread, and starts hacking away to chip out the wood. She swings the tool up over her head, and brings it down into the long with heavy thunks, her feet safely out of the way.

Eh. Look at him. Grows a couple inches, puts on a few pounds, rescues a feline from a tree and Mathis seems to think he's some sort of hero or something (no he does not, that had been terrifying). Tsking softly, he reaches out and takes the offered hatchet, "I would have been here when we were supposed to meet, but they woke me up early and put me to work scrubbing in the administration offices." Checking the sharpness of the blade, hazel eyes are flickered back towards the woodcrafter girl. "You ever been up there? Those things are huge and everyone has one." Everyone being those in the administration wing who needed one, but being Mathis means to exaggerate, which makes it difficult sometimes in deciding whether or not to believe him. However, as prone to elaboration as he was, he never bold face lies. "It's also really hard to tell what has been scrubbed and what hasn't if you're taking over for someone, when you can't really see what you're supposed to be cleaning off." Don't mind him, he'll just babble away as he gets down to work, his words punctuated by grunts of effort as he brings the axe down over and over again to gradually chip away at the log so it can be hollowed out.

Rinian wrinkles her nose. "Not fun. I wonder how long before they open it all up again." She keeps working as she talks, making good progress through the wood. Though she be but little, she is fierce! Shakespeare has a good way with words, even if here it means something different. "I was glad to find these that weren't needed. I wonder if someone might want to even buy them for their own personal use when the hot springs open up again? Wouldn't that be nice? If so..we'll have to improve them for them. But for now, functional will do."

"No idea, but I can tell you that the caverns are cramped and the menu's really taken a turn for the worse," Mathis says, wincing. Food was one of those things incredibly important to him and not being able to fill his belly up with the ridiculous amount of calories he needed everyday was at some point going to make him a little cranky. Chop. Chop. Hack. Chop. Hack. Hack. Okay, so maybe he's a wee on the cranky side now. "The whole dead rodent thing has people pretty freaked, production's slowed down and seems like a bunch of people have written in sick because they don't want to risk getting sick." Rolling his eyes towards the sky, Mathis chop-chop-chops and sets the axe aside so that he can start tossing wood chunks and chips beneath the cauldron, after pulling on a pair of though hide work gloves as to avoid getting stuck with a whole mess of splinters. "Hmmm," he ponders, looking at their progress so far. "Maybe? I mean, its going to take a couple of hours to sand them down smooth and varnish them. Then that has to set…" He has a point here, promise. "…otherwise the wood will warp and fall apart from being wet to dry for however long the Hot Springs are closed. I don't think we can just carve them out and sand them, unless we want to make all new tubs at some point."

Rinian shakes her head as she keeps chopping. "Sanding, yes. I wouldn't worry about the varnishing. This really isn't a long term solution, and they won't need varnish to hold water." She enjoys the work they are doing, and the company she has while doing it. "Some times work doesn't have to be completely perfect." A lesson she learned from D'lei actually. "Weighing its need vs perfection….the need is more."

Mathis, was a perfectionist, but then again his talent lay with intricate and realistic carving not making bathtubs. He just remembered what his Journeyman back at Fort had told him about wood needing to be protected from moisture and what would happen if you didn't. Falling apart and mold, mostly. Opening his mouth to say a whole lot more along those lines, he ultimately decides to clamps it shut again and just get back to chopping. Maybe Rinian had some better idea of how long the Hot Springs were going to be out of service than he did, or just knew more things in general. She was older and had been with the craft longer. So, instead of nit-picking he focuses on other things, "You want to run me though how this is all going to work again?" He was totally eyeballing that cauldron, and probably wondering how they weren't going to be boiling people alive as well as what the turn around was going to be like. He was all for helping out, but there seemed to be a whole lot more work involved in all this than perhaps he had been expecting.

Rinian grins at Mathis. The pair of them make quite a scene. Two good size logs are set in trenches like an = sign, a few meters apart. They are out of the reach of the water with a mound of sand a bit further up that has a cauldron on a stand set atop it. They are each standing on a log, feet spread, hollowing them out with hatchets. "Since these aren't really to be used long term, if we oil them well it should keep the water from being a problem. This wood is pretty resistant anyway." No, she didn't read his mind. Just the matter of both being Woodcrafters. "So anyway, there will be drain holes we'll stop up. And from the cauldron we'll have some half pipe to the tubs. We can really just use one. See the cauldron has a spiget already? Just need to be able to swing the half pipe from one to the other tub. We can rig a simple stand for it to hang from. The real work will be keeping the cauldron topped off and hot. We can add buckets of cooler water to the tubs themselves to get a good temp and have to use less of the hot."

Mathis ahhhh's and nod-nods and that's all the explanation that he needs, taking a break from all that chopping until his shoulder and arm stop aching. It was only a little, but he was taking it seriously, especially if Rinian expected him to do his part and carve out at least one tub all by himself. It did sound like an exceeding large amount of work, but if it meant an order free barracks, he was all for it. "That smithcrafter from Teroon is getting a little ripe," he admits, getting back to chop-chopping. This might actually be the other reason why he'd agreed to help his fellow woodcrafter with her endeavor (well, aside from the fact that she was his best friend), because said smithcrafter's cot was one of the ones beside his own. Hard to fall asleep when your eyes were watering and it felt like some guy was filling your sinuses with his stench.

Sylvarin has been faced with one of two options, smell bad…or take a bath outside. Apparently the first was deemed worse because it's with a dour look on his face that the baker arrives at the beach, towel and extra clothes carefully placed in a bag to shield them from everything that is the world. He's also been kicked out of the kitchens, which certainly doesn't help any of this. Broodiness that had perhaps faded as he went through candidacy is now back /full force/. His brows are knit together and his lips pool downwards as he just…looks at the area.

They aren't quite done yet, so his bath will have to wait. But Rinian along with Matty are working as quickly as they can. Rin scoops out more chipped wood to throw beneath the cauldron. "Its early yet, but some folks like an early bath. Well…lets just get it done as quickly as we can. I can probably get out of lessons. I know all of what they want to be sure we know anyway, and the teachers would probably like baths too."

"I know, I know," Mathis replies, stopping all the chopping again in favor of some scooping to clear his work field. Would you look at that, things were really shaping up and that log was starting to look like an honest to goodness tub. He might actually be able to start sanding things soon, "Did you bring the rest of the tools we need?" Such as hand sanders, drillers, and some sort of guide for marking where the drains would be. "Oh, and the corks?" So he could figure out how big the holes would have to be. It's the arrival of a third party that draws Mathis's attention towards Sylvarin, alerted to it by Rinian as she tells him that they weren't ready yet. Instantly, his lips are pressed into a thin white line, and sucking in a breath he tosses that last handful beneath the cauldron and glances back towards the girl, "Uh, I'll be right back." Stepping out of his project there, he moves across the sand towards where the baker was standing, "Hey, uh, can I talk to you?"

"Caught you guys before you're ready yet?" Sylvarin tosses some semblance of a grin in Rinian's direction, though it's not quite full force because BROOD. Can anyone really blame him? His attention shifts momentarily as Mathis comes up to him and there's a slightly raised eyebrow for the teenager, ut this is soon followed by a slight shrug and a nod. "Yeah, what's up?" There isn't much emotion in his face one way or the other when it comes to the subject of talking. Instead he seems to be glaring at the bath tubs, as if they might be at fault for getting him taken out of the kitchens. Never mind that they clearly are not the reason!

Rinian smiles at Syl, "Not quite. Just be a bit patient with us…" She is about to gesture to the gathered tools but Matty's distracted now. She gets back to work, a bit behind Matty. But she should have hers ready to sand in the next couple of minutes. That teen and his getting bigger! So not fair. Maybe she should eat like he does? No…she'd only get into trouble.

A look is cast back towards Rinian, even if he knew for a fact that she was not going to help me more than she already had. Instead he gets the muted version of Sylvarin complete with eyebrow raising all on his lonesome. Well, it wasn't like he didn't deserve it, or worse. "Uh, Rinian explained to me the difference between runnerbeast play and bullying, and I am really really sorry for what I did. I could stand here and make excuses for myself, but I won't. I was a wherry's backside, and there's no excuse for that." Well, there were reasons he'd done what he did, but unless the baker inquired about it, seems he was going to be keeping those to himself. "I will work on…" A glance towards the woodcrafter girl, "…using my words." Definitely something Rinian had advised, since he seemed to be checking to see if he had gotten that phrasing right. He understood the concept, but putting it like that exactly seems still a little foreign to him. Hazel eyes track back to Sylvarin, notably looking as apologetic as his tone implied, "Again, I am sorry, and I get it if you want me to just leave you alone and stuff. I just, wanted you to hear that." Fidgeting a bit, chewing the ever loving out of his lower lip, he turns rather awkwardly and starts back towards that tub he was neglecting.

A look is cast back towards Rinian, even if he knew for a fact that she was not going to help him more than she already had. Instead Mathis gets the muted version of Sylvarin complete with eyebrow raising all on his lonesome. Well, it wasn't like he didn't deserve it, or worse. "Uh, Rinian explained to me the difference between runnerbeast play and bullying, and I am really really sorry for what I did. I could stand here and make excuses for myself, but I won't. I was a wherry's backside, and there's no excuse for that." Well, there were reasons he'd done what he did, but unless the baker inquired about it, seems he was going to be keeping those to himself. "I will work on…" A glance towards the woodcrafter girl, "…using my words." Definitely something Rinian had advised, since he seemed to be checking to see if he had gotten that phrasing right. He understood the concept, but putting it like that exactly seems still a little foreign to him. Hazel eyes track back to Sylvarin, notably looking as apologetic as his tone implied, "Again, I am sorry, and I get it if you want me to just leave you alone and stuff. I just, wanted you to hear that." Fidgeting a bit, chewing the ever loving out of his lower lip, he turns rather awkwardly and starts back towards that tub he was neglecting.

"I can wait," Sylvarin adds to Rinian, because for the sake of a bath - even an outdoor bath, he /will/ wait. But as she tinkers away his attention is moving back to Mathis and as the teenager talks there's only silence from the baker. It's a few moments after the woodcraft apprentice has finished talking that the baker lets out a sigh and absently waves a hand, "It's fine." But Sylvarin isn't asking about what may have led Mathis to the whole misunderstanding. "I'm not going to hold a grudge, so you honestly don't have to worry about it anymore. Consider it forgotten." There's a certain amount of monotony to his voice now, not much emotion in one direction or the other.

Rinian smiles towards Matty. She's proud of him, even if Sylvarin's response is less than enthusiastic. Poor germ guy just need a bath…and a kitchen. Speaking of, "Hey Sylvarin, have you tried to see if the tree cafe needs some things baked in their kitchen?" Who knows, maybe they'll be done by the time he is. She scoops out the last of her chips, adding them to the burn pile, and gets the tools for sanding.
Apologizing had little to do with making Rinian proud of him and a lot more to do with actually feeling bad he'd misread the situation, nodding solumnly and lowering his eyes as Sylvarin waves a hand dismissively and apparently all is forgiven. It might be the monotone and lack of emotion that's responsible for his turning away and giving space back to the baker, climbing back into the make-shift tub and reclaiming his axe. Soon enough, he's back to chopping away, putting a considerable amount of energy into it now. Like, whoa. Where was all that muscle come from?

"I probably should, there's a bit more…constraint with what I can do there though. Which is better than nothing." Sylvarin lets out a sigh, his gaze briefly shifting towards Mathis when the teen gets to work on the tub. "How long have you guys been working on all this then?" There's a small gesture to the general area.

Rinian murmurs to Matty, "Careful, we don't want a hole in the bottom." Then louder to Sylvarin. "I started before the sun rose." At least the work keeps her warm! Ish. "The longest part is getting these hollowed out. The rest shouldn't take as long." Not when she has Matty, the super apprentice.

Pausing in mid-thwack, Mathis looks up at Rinian, then back down. It was okay, he wasn't quite there, but he might have gotten close if she hadn't said anything. Nodding he sets the axe down before going any further with it, scooping and dumping the pieces into the piles and giving what's left a through appraisal. If he felt Sylvarin's eyes on him, it doesn't show, hoping out of the tub again so that he can get one of those handsanders and strap it on. The guy wasn't going to get his bath if one of these tubs wasn't finished. "Just have to sand this one," he says aloud, gaze finding Rinian, "You want to measure and cut the hole so we can at least finish this one, otherwise Sylvarin might be standing there a while." He was their only customer, and leaving him there to watch them frantically try to complete two tubs instead working together to complete one, seemed rude.

"That's pretty early," Sylvarin adds as a comment, content to watch them work for now. "Don't worry, I'll wait as long as it takes." Because honestly he is /not/ ok with having less than at a shower a day. He looks around and glances at a rock, but grimaces at it because /more/ dirt is not going to make the situation any better.

Rinian nods and stops her sanding to start making the drain hole in her tub since its a bit further along now. "Why don't you come finish this one, Matty?" To Sylvarin she asks, "Things would speed up with some help. That is, if you are willing to get buckets of water from the lake into the cauldron?" She doesn't know how that rates on his germ-o-meter.

Dropping his voice, "Can't really ask him to pay if you're going to make him fetch his own water," Mathis murmurs to Rinian, finding his way to her tub and getting to sanding it rather than his own. She was right, this one was much further long than his own, which might explain why he's eyeballing her a bit. Who's the super apprentice? Admittedly, she'd gotten quite the head start. At mention of time, the woodcrafter casts a glance towards Sylvarin, "I take it you didn't have to go scrub everything down with that stuff?" He's talking about the solution they're using to treat the areas they'd shut down, as many of the candidates were being reallocated for this instead of their usual chores. Mathis had been out of bed around the same time that Rinian had, except while she was collecting things and sundry, he was gloved and masked.

Sylvarin doesn't look particularly enthused about helping, but he does do so with a sigh. He moves over to collect said liquid but when he arrives there's a deeper frown on his face. "Lake water though? But…it hasn't been treated or cleaned or any such thing." Or maybe there is a filter of some kind and he doesn't know. But he might be leaning a little /less/ towards bathing. Sylvarin does eventually get to Mathis question and he shakes his head, "No, but…I chose to clean my area as I saw fit. Any my things." Because he doesn't trust anyone else with that!

Rinian smiles to Matty. "His first bath will be free." To Syl she notes, "The heat will kill off anything..not good. And there is a filter attched to the spigot. Don't worry." She quickly takes care of the drain holes in both tubs, then gets to work on the half pipe to carry the water from the cauldron to the tubs. About that time..a wagon rumbles in with people and boxes..lots of boxes..drawn on…

There is zero commentary on the matter of lake water and whatever germs it may contain, nor does Mathis touch it with a ten meter pole. He's just sanding away at that tub, making sure there is no way that splinters end up anywhere, especially somewhere delicate. He does nod in agreement when Rinian decrees that Sylvarin's first bath would be free, receiving no argument from him in this regard, running his fingers over the surface of the wood below him to check for any picky edges. Hazel eyes lift and are directed towards the baker as he replies, giving another nod. If the mood was better, he might have teased him about not letting that get around because it was probably the cleanest and safest spot in the whole weyr right now, and he might find everyone and their mother camped out on his cot. Nope, not going there. Sanding! That's what he's going to do and he starts to really go to town.

"If you say so…" Sylvarin eyes the bathtubs, still somewhat wary. But surely the water has to be safe, and a better option than not bathing at all? His attention shifts at the sudden arrival of boxes and it seems that perhaps his bath will have to wait. "I…believe that I'll come back when things are more set up." There's a small wave for the both of them before the baker is making a quick retreat!

Rinian watches the incoming boxes, puzzled. Giving an absent wave to Syl. Only when the leader comes off and explains things to them does she share a look with Matty. "Um…maybe you could build them around the baths here instead of having us move all this. It's already at the lake side…"

Boxes? Thump. Thump. Yep, those are boxes all right. BIG ones. "Is that, crayon?" he asks aloud of no one in particular, probably meant to be an internal sort of thing but something had gotten mixed up in the works. Offering a nod and a brief short wave to the baker as he goes, Mathis looks quickly back towards Rinian. Patiently he waits, but once she was done talking to whoever was in charge of, all that, brows raise. "What's going on?" It wasn't like something exactly like this occurred everyday, even if strange seemed to vacation in Xanadu most of the time. Not that this was necessarily a bad thing, at least not in his mind, if anything the woodcrafter found it to be part of the charm.

Rinian explains to Matty about Leirith's next big idea. "I'm the tiny not-wife, so you must be the tiny shy one." She smiles, "Not as tiny as you were. Looks like we're going to be in the middle of a box resort." Yep..indeed..because up go the boxes.

As Rinian explains what's happening, Mathis's expression shifts from one emotion clearly to the next. Questioning, surprise, even more surprise, amusement, and then the soft deepening sound of his laughter. It was light and tapers off quick enough, but it was there. "Tiny, not-wife?" Blink. Blink. While confused he still thought that title was funny as all get out, however he stops and stares when she labels him as tiny shy one. "Tiny…shy…" Well, it had been a while since he last saw Leirith, so maybe he'd let that slide this one time. Boy, would she be surprised when he showed up on the hatching sands so much bigger than when she'd picked him up from Fort Weyr (it wasn't that much of a difference physically, but maybe personality wise he could claim that he'd matured in leaps and bounds. (However, debatable.)). Things were different, darn it! RECOGNIZE! "Hey now, I'm still growing. The healers say I'm right on track." Little defensive are we shrimp boy? Opening his mouth to say something else, he's distracted for a moment by the arrival and arrangement of yet more boxes, sound rushing out of him that shifts easily into the ease of a chuckle. "Well, you think that it'll attract more customers?"

Being sensitive about height to the girl who hasn't grown even a smidge? Poor Rin. "Without a doubt. We'd better get this finished by the time they finish with the boxes! Oh, and be sure they don't put any too near the fire or block our way to the lake."

Girls, you see, could be small and cute without anyone looking at them sideways. Boys…men…that was another story. Sure, he might not ever be stupid tall like the bronzeriders around here and just about everywhere else, but there was nothing wrong with five foot ten (hint: he will not be this tall unless he wears lifts, but don't put it past him). Snapping off a salute, he helps Rinian finish up the tubs and get them situated along with the piping she'd fashioned, and along the way he excitedly proposes his plan to make a proper resort sign to sit above the 'entrance'. Leirith wanted Leirithtopia, she was going to get it by gum! Hmm, gum. Ugh, now he was hungry. This aside, "Do you think we should make a couple more tubs?" Whatever the answer, at some point the woodcrafter candidates pack up and head back to the weyr for late morning lessons.